18month old corn...What is a good weight?

[WestCoast_Redneck]

When we got our corn Jan 9th, she weighed 32grams. Her hatch date is July 21st 2011.
As of today, after 4 successful Rat Pinky meals, she now weighs 53.8grams.

So she's growing, but she still seems small for her age compared to others. I've been told before petstores keep their snakes on a bare minimal feed schedule to keep them small to market to the public. But our corn is from a breeder, who allowed me to look at her entire collection. Every snake I saw was well taken care of, so there's no chance it lack of proper care or neglect. I have her entire life's schedule.

Also, according to her schedule, her last shed was Nov.4/12. She has yet to shed with us, and I have misted her viv as well as put damp clothes over 90% then left it for a few days without anything and today I misted then placed loose saran wrap over the screen to bring up the humidity.

Whats your advise? She is clearly growing, seems content, eats well, active....but yet, still no shed. No sign of her going in blue either, today her eyes are as clear as ever.
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q647/WestCoast_Redneck/20130203_094202_zpsd8f72f2a.jpg

[JaimeVanD]

I'm pretty new to this, myself...but, one of my son's recently acquired critters did not have her first shed with us until 5 weeks had passed. I was worried sick. We think she was a hatchling, though. Our bigger girl was 6 months, when we got her. Her first shed scared the tar out of me. She was in blue for a good 5 days. She has shed after 2 weeks, and the longest time without a shed has been 6 weeks and running. Both are healthy, just different. I guess what I'm saying is that your baby is an individual, and is probably just fine. I'm sure you'll get a super-experienced snake person, to reply soon. In the meantime, just try to relax and take comfort in knowing where she came from and that she's looking good!

[xStaticSnow]

As long as she has been regularly eating prey items ~1.5 times the width of her body, and is putting on weight consistently there's nothing to worry about. 53 grams seems like it might be a little small for a snake 18 months old, but she looks healthy and she's bulking up under your care, so I don't think there are any problems. Also, don't worry about her not shedding! Some snakes are very regular shedders and do so at the same time every months while they're growing, others are fairly irregular and it's difficult to tell when there next shed will be. As long as she's growing she'll shed eventually, but nothing bad is going to happen in the mean time while you wait for her to shed.

I would suggest getting a humidity gauge to put in her tank, and as long as the humidity doesn't drop too low then don't bother misting and covering her tank until you're sure that she's going into blue. One I notice my corns eyes turn I give him a soak in room temp water and mist his cage a few times and he usually sheds just fine (plus we have super low humidity here in MT, but corn snakes are very hardy and do fine in a lot if different humidity situations).

If you continue feeding her and she doesn't seem to be putting on any weight you could get her checked for parasites. I doubt that she has any, but if it becomes a problem you could check just to make sure.

She looks great! (:

[Justine66]

try getting some Sphagnum moss, and a plastic container with a lid. :)
they work amazingly! the first shed that I had with my baby was a bad shed.. so I went out and got some of that moss, and a little container, I swear by them now! his next shed was perfect!

and you also don't need to worry about misting, and covering the tank and all of that fun stuff! ;)

[WestCoast_Redneck]

Thank you!!! Justine, where did you find the sphagnum moss?

I just know our air is incredibly dry. . I figured it was unnecessary with a corn to get a humidity gauge, but I know the humidity is next to nil here, so I'm going to run out this afternoon for one. She drinks regularly, but does not soak. I will try to moist hide when I see any signs of blue, and will keep in mind that a room temp. soak might help also.

Thanks again for the help :)

[Justine66]

I got mime at petsmart, its made by Zoo-med.
it comes in a bright green box, but you MAY need to look in the amphibian section as its normally used with animals that require high humidity, but you could find it in the reptile section.

and I got my plastic container from Walmart, but even a well cleaned butter container will work fine. :)

[Justine66]

aha, silly me! I forgot to add the price! :o
it was 10.99$ for the small box, witch can fill a 10 gallon! so it lasts forever with only a couple of snakes..

:)

[jonnyw]

I dont think there is anything wrong with your snake, 53g does sound a little small but that doesnt mean she is unhealthy but im no expert others will give better advice. I notice you have been feeding rat pinkys and im sure I read something about mice having more nutritional value than rats or something like that. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can expand on that. Beautiful snake by the way

[Chip]

My smallest June-July 2012 hatchling is 16 grams and largest is 75.

[dave partington]

She's really pretty. Really really pretty.
Just as people grow at different rates of speed, so do other critters.
Regardless of whether they are being power fed or on the Munson Diet (redbull&vodka) or a less regimental feeding schedule.
Try not to over-think it. She's not losing weight or getting any smaller, looks healthy on my screen. IMO you're doing fine with her.

[WestCoast_Redneck]

So I have nothing to worry about! I thought someone said their '11 was 150grams and I thought there must be something wrong with mine! The breeder gave me both rat pinkies and baby mice ( Not quite fuzzies, they seem too small for her though). She said rat pinkies have a higher fat content, so I've been feeding those trying to beef her up because I thought she was too small! Apparently, I can switch back to mice and start with fuzzies :)

She's an Ultra Anery (Hybrid) which I knew nothing about at the time. But I loved the look of her, very clean and classy markings. And to boot, shes very laid back and friendly, which makes her a fabulous first snake for us!

[WestCoast_Redneck]

She's really pretty. Really really pretty.
Just as people grow at different rates of speed, so do other critters.
Regardless of whether they are being power fed or on the Munson Diet (redbull&vodka) or a less regimental feeding schedule.
Try not to over-think it. She's not losing weight or getting any smaller, looks healthy on my screen. IMO you're doing fine with her.

That Munson Diet sounds great, I think snake and I both will give it a go!

Thanks for the advise, means a lot. When you just don't know the answers and have nothing to compare, I guess over analyzing takes place.

[Chip]

IMO, the Munson plan is a big on the LARGE size as prey items go. Just watch to make sure you have one that can keep up. If there's still a big lump in 24 hours, I'd pare it back. My 2 cents.

[Justine66]

WestCost_Redneck- The Munson plan can be a bit aggresive for most snakes, and usually leads to an obease animal.. It's good back bones for a newbie like me and you, ;) but I found that altering the plan to not jump up prey sizes as soon and so on helps out a lot..

Just my 0.02 cents though! :o

[Justine66]

Aha! Chip! ya beat me to it! ;)

[dave partington]

I went through the same thing when I was first getting into having several cornsnakes, some grew faster than others and I assumed I must be doing something wrong or not right, but it seems to happen a lot. Some of these have grown like the books, blogs, etc- say they are supposed to , some faster, some slower. Some seemed to not grow at all for the first year but eventually grew at a faster rate. So long as they are feeding that's what is important. I have some which all came from the same clutch of eggs and some are adults, ready to breed this year, and siblings are going to be another year or so before they are up to a safe (more than minimal) breeding size.
Your yellow headed anery is awesome. Thanks for sharing-

[WestCoast_Redneck]

Thank you!
As for the feeding, I guess the Munson's redbull & vodka plan is a little aggressive being she's not even 2 years old.. I'll hold off until she's a bit older. However, it should help me power through school so I'll give it a go!
She's doing well on the rat pinkies once a week, I have about 2 left then I will switch to fuzzy mice and may also start onto a 10day feeding cycle, now that I'm not so worried about her size. I'm a fitness fanatic, so there's no fatty snakes allowed here! If I overfeed her, then I'm gonna have to put her on a work out regime of daily sit ups, vine pulls and ab constrictions!
Unfortunately, all the pics I posted were taken from my cell and just don't do her justice. Once I figure out how to resize pics from my Nikon, I will get some better shots of her and plan on making her my model for photography practice :)

[jonnyw]

Sorry to hijack this thread but im a little worried now with this talk of the munson plan being abit much. I have an 18 month old who weighs about 130g, ive stuck to the munson plan since I got him at 6 week old, he never had any difficulty stepping up. I would be gutted if he was overweight, in my eyes he looks ok, his belly is flat not round and cant see skin between his scales. I have a thread in the photo section could you take a look and let me know how he looks as im still fairly new, any opinions are welcome. Thanks in advance

[dave partington]

Some people stick to the Munson Plan, others do not, there are many paths to a single destination.

[Chip]

Jonny, no 130 gram corn is fat, you can't make a baby corn fat. That starts to happen after the 250 gram mark somewhere. If yours is handling the food size and ready to eat in 5 days, there's probably no need to change.

[gsdbecca]

My 18 month old is a little over 150 now, but she didn't really start growing until she got on fuzzies. I got her at 10 months old, I didn't weigh her, but she was little and on large pinkies (peach fuzzies, whatever you want to call them). Once she was ready for fuzzies, look out! She's been growing like a weed ever since!

[diamondlil]

Wow, what a stunning baby!